‘Why do my ears feel so ticklish?’
The gentlemen nearby flinched as I frowned and tapped my ears.
‘What on earth did I do…’
The rumor that Louis Gargell became a eunuch has nothing to do with me.
In a ridiculous mood, I threw my gaze to the blackboard.
The lecture ended with the political science professor saying that there was a debate class this semester, and I got up and checked my pocket watch.
Today was that day.
The day indicated in the invitation for the teatime.
Shortly afterwards, there was a small afternoon tea party at the Epsilon frat house.
‘I’m finally having a tea party with the young ladies.’
Why am I so nervous…
It seemed that just sitting among the chatting ladies would be fun.
Because I like listening more than speaking.
‘Will I be able to hear stories about the ordinary lives of the Imperial noble ladies?’
And not a thesis on the comparative assessment and field applicability of mana purity measurement methods, which was recently published by the Mana Research Institute.
I didn’t hate studying with the 5th Princess, but I wasn’t a genius who enjoyed studying like the 5th Princess.
‘I want to take a break from studying.’
How many times have I attended the beginning of a semester!?
‘But why isn’t anyone here?’
I was so excited about socializing that I was confused about the time of the gathering.
I thought everyone ran away because I, who was like a landmine, was present, but Margaret, who was standing next to me, said cautiously.
“Princess. The start of the afternoon tea party is at 4 o’clock.”
“Ahem! I-it’s not that I was eager for the meeting, I was going to look at the paintings. The Epsilon permanent exhibition center displays paintings of new authors every month.”
“I see you don’t waste your spare time and use it to develop your artistic vision.”
She looked at me so positively that it hurt my conscience.
“E-exactly.”
Gosh! My bothersome conscience.
“I see. Take your time looking around and come out.”
“A-alright.”
She moved away from me so that she would not interfere with my appreciation and contemplation of the works of art, and I entered the main building feeling embarrassed.
The interior of the Epsilon building was nicely decorated.
Above the arched window was a delicate sculpture representing an animal, and the floor was intricately intertwined with geometric patterns.
I could hear the sound of a piano from a distance as I was walking while looking at the oil paintings hung in the interior permanent exhibition hall.
‘They’re playing well.’
It was a soft accompaniment with a lyrical feel.
Listening to the calm and beautiful sound, I stepped deeper into the labyrinthine interior of the main building without realizing it.
‘The structure of the building is very unusual.’
As I walked towards the door on the left, the keyboard sound grew louder and soon stopped.
“Thierry! Is it time to play the piano so peacefully right now?”
Soon, I heard the impatient voice of a man on the side where the corridor turned once more.
‘So Thierry Orgo was the one playing the piano.’
“I’m always there in the music room.”
Come to think of it, he told me last time to come to the music room if I want to meet him.
‘He has a wonderful talent.’
I thought he was a thoughtless loafer, but he seems a little different.
If only it weren’t for the following words.
“The watch we left at the pawnshop, what are we going to do? If we don’t get it back, my life is in danger. You said you could win the dice!”
“Why are you acting so impatient like I was the only one entrusted with it? And Guillaume, your father is the minister of administration. My father is a swordmaster. I can die in just a second.”
“Do you think this is the time to make jokes like that?”
My amazement towards the piano was brief; the conversation was so absurd that I was dumbfounded.
Those bastards must have taken their family items as collateral to a pawn shop to gamble.
Seems like scoundrels from rich families who gamble away their families’ fortune are everywhere.
“We’re in the same boat, so why are you the only one who is relaxed? Do you have some place from where money will come out? You said that your allowance had been cut, too.”
“There is a way to resolve this crisis. Come closer.”
I was excitedly listening to their insane story, but Thierry Orgo suddenly lowered his voice so much that I was disappointed.
‘I can’t hear what he’s saying.’
I stealthily moved my body closer.
“What?! This maniac is forging a fossil?!”
However, Thierry’s conversation partner, Guillaume, suddenly shouted loudly and spread the confidential information.
‘A fossil?!’
They’re talking about holy beast eggs.
I covered my mouth at the unexpected words.
If it’s the fossil owned by the Orgo family, it may be related to the white tortoise, the holy beast that Mia received in the novel.
“Are you crazy? Please lower your voice!”
“I thought I heard it wrong since it’s something ridiculous.”
“Anyway, be careful.”
“What kind of gentlemen come to this secluded music room besides you? And the ladies will all be at the women’s salon for the meeting.”
‘Damn it.’
I rushed around and quickly hid between the pillar and the wall where the sculpture stood.
“First of all, listen to me.”
Thierry whispered something again, so I couldn’t hear much.
“… It was left unused for nearly seventeen years.”
“…”
“It’s no different than a rolling pebble.”
“… Hm. Is that so?”
Whether he was persuaded, Guillaume’s harsh voice softened.
‘I can’t believe he’s thinking of forging a holy beast egg that could not be hatched for seventeen years because they had no artifacts.’
I immediately grasped the situation.
Thierry. He used his head quite well.
It’s relatively easy to make a rough stone-shaped counterfeit item, not elaborate jewelry or watches.
“By the way, I can’t believe Sir Diera didn’t come home often. Losing the jousting competition must have hurt his pride a lot. What is he going to do? Pfft!”
“He pretended to be all sorts of cool, pretended to be all sorts of brilliant, and then lost in three seconds to Isidor. Hahaha!”
What are all these great personalities?
Since Diera, the owner of the holy beast egg, hasn’t been home recently, it seems he’s in an even better situation to replace it with a fake one.
‘I really won the lottery.’
The iron sword I brought from the auction house in front of the black pot stand, during the Spring Flower Festival.
I was dubious, but it must be a hatching artifact.
I won that sword, and the contents of the novel changed like this.
The white tortoise beast that Diera had hatched and given to Mia in the novel was still in the egg, and Thierry was plotting something with it.
‘If he’s thinking of replacing it with a fake egg, what is he going to do with the real one?’
This was my biggest concern.
I wanted the white tortoise beast that appeared in the novel.
Because the tortoise beast with light properties had the ability to detect rifts in the barrier. I would be able to prepare for a sudden disaster.
“And then?”
“Black market.”
“But there’s no way you’ll be able to get back what you left there. The interest is going up in the meantime. Those nasty bastards…”
Thierry and Guillaume seemed to be engaged in a loan business in the pawnshop where they had collateralized their goods to make money.
It seemed that they couldn’t deal with it even if they sold the holy beast secretly.
‘Well, it’s a holy beast with no artifacts to hatch. It’s not going to be a very expensive deal. As Thierry said, it’s just a rock with a hatchability of 0.001 percent.’
“That’s why this match is more important than ever.”
Thierry muttered in secret.
“This match? Are you saying you’re going to the racetrack?”
“Honestly, we wouldn’t have gotten to this point if we hadn’t thrown the dice. We had a good situation until then.”
“…”
“That red horse is the real deal. And I recently had a really good dream. A golden rose appeared, and I had an extraordinary feeling.”
“Well, I can trust your intuition in horse racing.”
‘Crazy bastards.’
Knowing those thugs’ plan to retrieve their collateralized goods after using the money from selling the holy beast as seed money at the racetrack, I was annoyed.
‘Are they thinking about gambling again amid all this?’
My head hurting because of their recklessness was one thing, but Thierry handing over the egg to the black market makes things troublesome.
‘It’s not called the black market for no reason.’
There was also the possibility of secretly going to another country, like the pink diamond.
‘What should I do?’
Those gamblers could sell the egg I was after right away today, so I bit my lips nervously and approached the music room with a gambling feeling.
“Ah! You s-startled me.”
Thierry looked at me as if he had seen a ghost suddenly appear.
“P-Princess D-Deborah?”
“W-what are you doing here?”
“Sir Thierry, you told me to come to the music room if I wanted to meet you the other day. Don’t you remember?”
“M-me?”
Thierry, who widened his eyes in surprise, immediately swept up his black hair roughly as if he remembered the remarks he had said to me.
“Thierry, is this true?”
“Seems like it.”
“I already knew that you were fearless, but I didn’t expect it to be this much… Didn’t you hear about that eunuch?”
“I didn’t expect her to really come.”
I looked at Dumb and Dumber whispering noisily and opened my mouth.
“Sir Thierry’s piano playing skills were wonderful. The plan to forge a holy beast fossil was also very impressive.”
As I emphasized the word ‘forge’, the eyes of the big man, who I presumed was Guillaume, twitched.
“Huh? P-Princess, what are you talking about all of a sudden?”
“That’s what you said earlier. Holy beast fossil, forge. With a very loud voice.”
“I think the Princess is misunderstanding something, we were talking about a close friend. Would we, the prestigious Epsilon executives, do such a thing?”
Looking intently at Thierry, who spoke shamelessly in a relaxed tone, I nodded.
“Yeah. You are very determined to do such a thing.”
“… What?”
“Didn’t you intend to sneak the real item to the black market after replacing Sir Diera’s holy beast egg with a fake one?”
